We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maureen Seeba a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maureen, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I’ve worked extremely hard as an artist, but there are times when it totally pays off. One of the nicest things anyone ever did for me was just after I got my first website, I was contacted by a stranger from Australia, who said she found my work online. She told me she and her husband were in the process of building a large house on the Queensland coast, where the sunsets were spectacular from every room. She told me a couple of pieces she’d seen online and sent room sizes, photos of the house.
I sent her some prices and suggestions but didn’t really expect to hear from her again.

As it turned out, two weeks later, I wrote back to her and sent her some photos from a solo exhibition I was having in Houston at the time. She responded that she and her husband planned to “pop over” and have a look.
I thought she was pulling my leg or that they had business here.

Nope. they’d never been to Texas. Yes, they were coming just to have a look at my artwork.
When they visited the gallery, I met them there and they purchased several tens of thousands of dollars worth of my work! Not only that, but they wined and dined me the week they were here & invited me to visit Australia.

Quite a few months later, as they kept in touch with me, they ended up sending me a roundtrip ticket to Brisbane and invited me and a friend (!!!) to stay with them in their (9-bedroom) home across the water from Bribie Island. They organized several gallery owners to come and take a look, one by one, at my work hanging in their home and I actually ended up being represented in three different Queensland galleries.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a native Texan and have lived in Houston most of my life. I certainly consider it, “my city”. Growing up, I paid my way through college by working in Oil and Gas. Receptionist to Production Assistant, I was able to balance work and school, but the most important part of every day was coming home to a cardboard table to draw, paint, cut and fold.

Being successful, even a little successful, as an artist, means that creating is only a minor percentage of what you’ll need to do. Record-keeping, networking, publicity – all are facets of the diamond you will become.

You ask, of what am I most proud…my two brilliant, kind, talented sons.
Under that, probably I’m proud of doing something, however simple, unique in the world of imagery.: making Art tangible and involving the viewer. I’ve been working on it for over twenty-five years.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative person is that you always get to think out of the box. Things never get stale! You get to make things that weren’t there before and you get to watch the smiles on people’s faces when they see or interact with it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

We’ve become a nation of advertisements.
One thing that is disappearing from our cities is public art.
Banks, Office Buildings, Hotels, Hospitals, used to display original works.
Now there are billboards or cheap prints on most of their walls, if anything at all.

Many countries in Europe, for instance, require that renovation or new building costs include a substantial percentage toward the purchase of original artworks in order to receive permitting.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.MaureenSeeba.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maureenseeba/

Image Credits
all images are my own